Sacramento pastor stirs controversy praising Orlando shootings

A Sacramento, California, pastor has stirred controversy this week after a video of him praising the shootings at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, appeared on his church’s website and YouTube channel.In the video, which has now since been removed by YouTube for violating it’s policy on hate speech, Verity Baptist Church pastor Roger Jimenez in his Sunday sermon said that he is he thinks it is great that 50 pedophiles were killed in Sunday’s attack. His sermon was entitled, “The Christian Response to the Orlando Murders,” according to the church’s website.

“I think Orlando, Florida, is a little safer tonight,” Jimenez said in the recorded sermon.

Jimenez went on to say that he wishes the government “would round them all up, put them in front of a firing wall, put a firing squad in front of them and blow their brains out.”

Reactions on social media have been swift with many posts about the sermon’s message of hate. Some posts invite comments to the church’s YouTube channel, Yelp reviews and some referring that Jimenez’s sentiments were not what they experienced during their own church services Sunday.

Although the video has been removed, the church’s website maintains the audio of Jimenez’s sermon: